Experimental characterization of an optimal X-Y-θz flexure mechanism

Abstract

With the evolution of micro/nano positioning technologies, the demand for accurate mechanism for the tasks rose. That is where flexure mechanism comes in. Flexure mechanism are designed to eliminate friction from the traditional mechanisms that uses traditional joints such as revolute and prismatic joints. With the elimination of friction, higher resolution and accuracy of the results can be achieved. Flexure mechanisms are a type of compliant structure that uses compliant structures such as flexible limbs to deliver elastic deformations to deliver desired motions to a rigid end-effector. In this study, the steps that were used to design the current X-Y-θz flexure mechanism were briefly explained and in order to validate whether these steps used are optimised for the current design, it was evaluated by carrying out experimental studies on the stiffness and bandwidth on the flexure mechanism. This report will contain detailed steps and data used to carry out the experiments.